‘French figures demanding change in Quran ‘Western version of Daesh’’

ANKARA: Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag on Monday slammed a French manifesto calling for the abrogation of the holy Quran.

The scandalous manifesto was published in the French daily Le Parisien on April 21, and was signed by approximately 300 intellectuals and politicians, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Prime Minister Manuel Vall.

“Three hundred French intellectuals/politicians including former French president/fierce Islam enemy Sarkozy sought the removal of some verses from the Quran on the basis that they spread violence and anti-Semitism. They are the imbeciles of the 21st century and the Western version of Daesh,” Bozdag said in a post shared via his official Twitter account.

He added that “Sarkozy and the enemies of Islam” would not “ever be able to change the Quran.”

Bozdag shared the 23rd verse from the Quran’s Surah Al-Baqarah. “And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful.”

The deputy premier also shared a portion of Surah Al-An’am’s 34th verse: “And none can alter the words of Allah.”

Bozdag posted Surah Al-An’am’s 115th verse: “And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. None can alter His words, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing.”

The hatefully racist manifesto has been met with outcry by Muslims in France and abroad. The manifesto wrongfully declared that the Quran incites violence, and stated that this violence is a part of “new anti-Semitism” perpetrated by French Muslims. The French imam who serves at the Grand Mosque of Bordeaux, Tareq Oubrou, called the manifesto “nearly blasphemous.”

French manifesto on Quran ‘barbarism, deviance’

“It is literally barbarism and deviance that 300 people, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, prepared a declaration demanding some expressions in the Quran be removed,” Numan Kurtulmus, Turkey’s culture and tourism minister, said on Twitter overnight Sunday.

Stressing that the manifesto drew limited support, Kurtulmus added, however, that it was concerning that the manifesto was signed by people seeking to govern the country.

Kurtulmus explained that trying to hold the Quran and the societies terrorized by global power wars responsible for violence is an expression of the guilt feelings of the environments that were the true perpetrators of the violence and chaos.

“I strongly condemn for the sake of their shabby political calculations this accusation of the Qur’an, the sole source of truth for the Islamic religion which means peace and of the members of this supreme religion,” Kurtulmus said, adding that he would not respect what he called a “fascist” declaration.